Which Roman author wrote the epic poem Aeneid?

Virgil wrote the Roman epic poem Aeneid.

Virgil, whose Latin name was Publius Vergilius Maro, composed the Aeneid during the late first century BCE. The poem follows Aeneas, a Trojan hero who escapes the destruction of Troy, reaches Italy, and becomes an ancestor of the Romans through the legendary origins of Alba Longa and Rome.

The work contains twelve books and combines mythic adventure with themes of duty, sacrifice, warfare, and Rome’s destiny. It was unfinished when Virgil died in 19 BCE, but Augustus ordered that it be preserved rather than destroyed.

The Aeneid was not a contemporary historical account of Rome’s foundation. It is an epic poem that uses myth to connect Rome’s imperial identity with the heroic world of Troy and Greece. Ovid wrote Metamorphoses, while Horace was known for lyric poetry.